Taryn Di La Rovissi
The fall of their nation inspired many Llaelese to patriotic vengeance. Taryn di la Rovissi, on the other hand, thinks her former country got precisely what it deserved. Taryn became aware of her pistol-linked sorcerous abilities at a young age. While her peers at the Laedry orphanage spent their time talking about boys or gossiping, Taryn was sneaking off to watch the pistoleers practice their dueling skills. The solemn little girl soon became a regular sight at the practice yard, and it wasn’t long before a pistoleer named Henri waved her over to join them. She accepted his invitation to try a shot and turned toward the row of bottles they used as targets. As she placed her finger on the trigger, a soft blue glow enveloped the pistol. Taryn fired and hit the neck of the farthest target bottle, eliciting gapes and cheers from the gathered gunmen. Henri recognized the girl for a gun mage and promised to teach her what he could. Her arcane talents and marksmanship developed quickly, and eventually Taryn began taking work as a bodyguard and proxy duelist. Enamored with the luxurious lives of the aristocracy, she became romantically involved with a string of petty nobles. None of the shallow characters held her attention for long. Henri, a veteran of Llael’s army, was used to putting up with haughty nobility as an unpleasant part of earning a living in peacetime. Even so, when a young duke suggested salaciously that Henri’s intentions toward Taryn were not entirely honorable, a riled Henri demanded satisfaction. Taryn watched as the tutor who had been like a father was gunned down in front of her. She demanded vengeance, but the scornful duke dismissed her as not worth his time and roughly ejected her from his estate. Taryn spent half a year plotting her elaborate revenge, but the invasion initiated by the Khadoran High Kommand made her schemes unnecessary. Fleeing the bombardment of the city, she turned a corner only to find herself face-to-face with her hated enemy. The duke barely registered her before she shoved a pistol barrel against his heart and pulled the trigger. In the chaos of the invasion, one more body was scarcely noticed. Motivated more by the need to make a living than by any real patriotism, she made her way to the Llaelese army’s disorganized headquarters. Taryn soon realized that Llael’s military was a hopeless wreck riddled with ineffective officers descended from the aristocracy. She was not interested in dying for a country that had crippled itself. Taryn spent some time wandering occupied Llael. Though she never again enlisted, she did take the occasional contract with the countless mercenary companies that had sprung up in the wake of the invasion. It was while scouting for one of these groups that she met Rutger Shaw in a ruined section of Leryn. She was impressed by the calm with which he met the pistol she pointed at him and even more by his readiness to deal with the Winter Guard patrol that tried to arrest them seconds later. Taryn was surprised to discover a burgeoning affection for him even as bad luck seemed to draw them into one dangerous situation after another. On the road south out of Llael, Taryn grew even fonder of Shaw’s demeanor and disdain for the wars of the Iron Kingdoms. She has developed a respect and an attraction for him that no Llaelese noble had been able to inspire in her.